Samajwadi Party veteran and 4-time MP joins AIMIM, vows to show ‘his power’ to Mulayam Singh Yadav

Writer  Baleegh Naumani

Barq was also a minister in the state government in 1991.

SAMBHAL: In a move that has caused a vertical split in the ranks of the Samajwadi Party in the region, veteran leader and four-time Lok Sabha member Shafiqur Rahman Barq on Saturday announced that he and his grandson Ziaur Rahman Barq have joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) of Asaduddin Owaisi.

Barq had expressed displeasure at his grandson being denied the ticket for Sambhal assembly seat, which had instead been given to five-term SP MLA and state cabinet minister Iqbal Mehmood. On Saturday, Barq, a prominent leader of Turk Muslims in the region, announced that his grandson Ziaur Rahman Barq will contest from Sambhal seat on an AIMIM ticket against SP candidate Iqbal Mehmood, triggering mass defection from SP ranks and a crisis in the party in the region.

Speaking with TOI, Barq, who has also been a four-term MLA and was a minister in the state government in 1991, said, “I was in Lucknow recently where I was assured by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav as well as chief minister Akhilesh Yadav that my grandson will be given the party ticket from Sambhal. But eventually, the name of Iqbal Mehmood was announced. I have now decided to show my power to MSY on all the seats of Moradabad. I will extensively campaign for all candidates of AIMIM in the region and expose the scams committed during the SP rule.”